An attorney for accused Colorado theater shooter James Holmes
repeatedly referred to his client's "mental illness" during a court
hearing today that focused mostly on a request by media outlets to
unseal court filings, USA TODAY's Trevor Hughes reports.

"We as a
defense team cannot begin to examine the nature or depth of Mr. Holmes'
mental illness until we receive full disclosure," public defender Daniel
King said during the roughly 90-minute hearing in Centennial, Colo.

He
also said the 24-year-old former neuroscience graduate student at the
University of Colorado medical school had tried to "get help with his
mental illness."

Holmes is charged with killing 12 people and wounding 58 others during a July 20 showing of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, a Denver suburb.

Holmes
sat quietly during the hearing, his hair still red-orange, with long
sideburns and a mustache growing in. The outlines of a protective vest
could be seen under his maroon jail jumpsuit, The Denver Post says.

The
paper says the hearing was momentarily disrupted by a woman who stood
up and said she had information "vital to the defense." A sheriff's
deputy lead her from the courtroom.

Some shooting victims and
family members attended the hearing at which prosecutors and defense
attorneys argued over whether a packet of information Holmes sent to a
psychiatrist who had been treating him is protected by doctor-patient
privilege. Sources have told news organizations the package contains a
notebook, but that has not been confirmed.

Judge William Sylvester took the media's request under advisement and said he would rule later.

Holmes
is due back in court next Thursday for a hearing about whether his
relationship and correspondence with his psychiatrist is protected by
doctor-patient confidentiality laws.

King told the judge today that the prosecution has so far turned over 2,677 pages of documents, mostly police reports, the Post writes. But the prosecution has not shared shared any photographs, recordings of interviews or expert reports.

The
prosecution said that investigators are still working to interview
witnesses and prepare the reports, and that "hundreds of people" must
still be interviewed or reinterviewed, the Post says.